Public Forum

Published: March 24, 2012 4:01AM

I am writing to address the letter written by John Schaffer in the Times-Gazette on March 21.

He says he considers himself "intelligent enough to know Obama has bamboozled the majority of Americans," but I say Fox News has bamboozled many Americans like Schaffer with false and misleading information.

First of all, the idea the U.S. was ever a "Christian" nation is a false concept. Ever since the Declaration of Independence, there is freedom of religion in America. There is no state religion like the Church of England. Our founders envisioned a nation where people of all religions could live together in peace and security, with freedom to worship however they wished -- or not to worship at all. Every single American president -- Republican and Democrat-- has supported that free exercise of religion by Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, atheists or agnostics, and yes, Christians as well. Because of this, there is no religious persecution in this country of Christians, Jews, Muslims or any other group. Rather, everyone is permitted to exercise their religion freely as long as they are peaceful and do not break the law.

For your information, John, President Obama is a Christian, and he never received any radical training at a Muslim school. That is an outright falsehood. You say that Obama is the worst leader in history? By what measure? He has been a steady and calm leader under many trying circumstances, including the Great Recession and multiple Middle East uprisings. As for all that about Sharia law being implemented, women no longer having driver's licenses, not talking to men in public and not wearing Western clothing, those are called "scare tactics" and not based on any facts, but rather based on Fox News propaganda.

The only void I can see happening is the massive void of truth in your letter, which is quite shocking, actually, for a supposed Christian. You really should open your eyes and see the good that has come and will come from Obama being our leader. He actually cares about the middle class for a change, the economy is getting better and life is improving for the people instead of everything favoring the rich and greedy.

You go ahead and support Mitt Romney, who will likely become the nominee of the Republican party.